On September 5 in Lahore, Afghanistan’s head coach Jonathan Trott made a startling revelation following his team’s devastating two-run loss to Sri Lanka. Afghanistan, who needed to score 292 runs in 37.1 overs to qualify, reached 289/8 at the conclusion of the 37th over.
This implied that they required three runs off a single delivery to qualify for the Super 4s. Rashid Khan, who had been on a roll up until that point, reached the conclusion of his innings. What he and the other batsmen did not know was that Afghanistan had until 38.1 to complete the task, assuming they reached 297. Therefore, they could have reached 293 after 37.2 overs, 294 after 37.3 overs, 295 after 37.5 overs, 296 after 38 overs, or 297 after 38.1 overs to surpass Sri Lanka in terms of NRR.
This meant that Afghanistan still had multiple options, but neither Mujeeb-ur-Rahman nor Fazalhaq Farooqui, who succeeded him, were aware of this. Trott acknowledged that they lacked information on these possibilities; consequently, no messages were sent to the batters. Mujeeb and Farooqui were dismissed, with Farooqui even attempting to play out the 38th over after concluding that his team’s prospects were over, as Afghanistan ultimately suffered a crushing defeat.
“We were never communicated those calculations,” he said. “All we were communicated was we needed to win in 37.1 overs. We weren’t told what the overs in which we could get 295 or 297. (That we could win eve after) 38.1 overs was never communicated to us.”
Mohammad Nabi’s blazing 32-ball 65 sparked Afghanistan’s pursuit, which also received notable contributions from Hashmatullah Shahidi and Rahmat Shah. The equation was reduced to 16 off 10 when Najibullah Zadran succumbed after a useful cameo. Prior to the eventual anticlimax, the southpaw and Rashid had placed Afghanistan on a solid path. Trott was unable to pinpoint a particular cause for Afghanistan’s defeat.
“I don’t think there’s one reason we lost the game,” Trott said. “There are areas of the game we could have done better and that goes for today’s game and the one against Bangladesh. We got some things horribly wrong in a few areas and it’s cost us. It’d be nice if we’d bowled them out a bit cheaper. But it wasn’t to be.”
